


destroy me more

by jyanyongs (betamax524)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Demon Hunters, Demons, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:26:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28478382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betamax524/pseuds/jyanyongs
Summary: Johnny’s on the hunt for a dangerous succubus.
Relationships: Lee Taeyong/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40





	destroy me more

**Author's Note:**

  * For [johnyongclub](https://archiveofourown.org/users/johnyongclub/gifts).



> please heed the warnings :)
> 
> to mada: thank you for being so patient, i hope you enjoy this <3

_  
You do this, you do. You take the things you love_  
_and tear them apart_  
_or you pin them down with your body and pretend they’re yours._

**Richard Siken**

***

Johnny can smell it the moment the door opens. Thick, cloying, swirling inside his head and sticking to his teeth. The scent of a succubus. He stays by the door as Mark kneels by the man, pressing a hand to his forehead as if he were dealing with a sick child and not a cursed fool.

The man’s wife waits in the doorway, peering into the room with a worried face. Johnny doesn’t have the heart to tell her that her husband is a cheating scumbag. Succubi are powerful, but to strike, they prey on subconscious instincts.

Mark sighs, sitting on his heels. “It’s not good,” he says, “He’s in deep.” He looks at Johnny, probably asking if he should be honest to this woman.

Johnny shakes his head.

“The only way to bring him back from this point is to destroy the demon that possessed him,” Mark says, standing up.

“Can you do that?” the woman asks, eyes wide and pleading, nothing but love behind her words.

“We’ll try,” Johnny says, “Best to keep watch over him for now.”

The woman nods, wringing her hands together. “Thank you… Please stay safe.”

Johnny only nods, gesturing for Mark to follow him outside.

***

“Dude, there’s no way I’m hunting down a succubus,” Mark says, crossing his arms.

Johnny scoffs, taking a box of cigarettes out of his pocket. “I’d never ask you to do that. What do you think of me?”

“Wait, are _you_ gonna do it?” Mark asks, eyes wide.

“Do we have a choice?” Johnny says, lighting the cigarette between his teeth, “Don’t worry about me.”

Mark worries anyways, brows furrowed as he fidgets in place, obviously thinking of another way out.

Johnny sighs, exhaling a plume of smoke. “Just trust me, will you?”

Mark sighs too, and he heads to their car first, dropping the conversation like Johnny hoped he would. Johnny shakes his head, stubbing his cigarette out with his heel before getting into the driver’s seat to drive them home.

***

It’s three in the morning when Johnny decides to leave. Mark is sound asleep in the other room, the lucky kid. Johnny hasn’t been able to sleep since coming home, senses still filled with the sickly-sweet scent of the succubus. It’s definitely a powerful one with how the scent has stuck with Johnny after all these hours.

Shaking his head to clear his mind, Johnny slips out of bed to get dressed.

Hunting succubi is trickier than hunting the average demon, especially since they prefer to keep human forms. Johnny’s lucky he can smell demons like this, which makes things slightly easier. He packs a simple knife, easier to hide and much more convenient than standard weapons.

Checking on Mark one last time, Johnny pockets his keys and opens the door, walking into the night.

***

But of course, Neo City never sleeps. Johnny knows for a fact that there’s a bustling red-light district that comes to life after the moon rises. With luck, the succubus will be hiding there, in plain sight.

Johnny shoves his hands into the pockets of his coat as he stalks the alleys lit up by buzzing neon lights. It’s easy to fade into the background with all the people milling about the small space, and even Johnny’s height is easily ignored as everyone else is focused on finding pleasure.

The crisp early morning air is nowhere to be found. The air here is muggy, filled with cigarette smoke and the heat from all the lights. Johnny grits his teeth. It’s going to be harder to pick up the succubus’ scent like this, no matter how distinct it is. This one is a smart one, he has to admit.

He’s pushed past god knows how many drunks and people offering themselves up, and his head is starting to ache. He’s heading towards the open streets when that saccharine smell hits him again.

Johnny whips around, eyes scanning the alleyway. Among the smoke and shadowed faces, he spots a young man by a doorway, eyes somehow sparkling under the low lights.

It’s like time comes screeching to a halt as the young man turns to face him. Because he knows that face.

 _There’s no way this is real,_ Johnny thinks, pushing through the crowd. Because that face… that face he could never forget… that face shouldn’t even exist anymore. Maybe the fucking air is getting to him, making him see things, and yet he still moves forward, a man in a desert chasing a mirage.

The young man looks at him again over the crowd and he smiles, that sweet, soft smile that Johnny knows too well.

***

_Johnny first met him on a sticky, summer day. He was resting in the shade of the tree, eyes nearly slipping closed._

_He heard someone walking closer, and his eyes flew open, nervous that he had been caught by his new master, sleeping on the job. But instead of an old man, he found himself staring at a beautiful boy._

_He had the rosy skin of the upper class, his dark hair curling around his ears and nape. His wide, doe eyes looked back at Johnny, almost sparkling in the sunlight._

_“Uh. Hello…?” Johnny said cautiously, “Please don’t tell Mr. Lee I almost fell asleep.”_

_The boy smiled then, giggling to himself. “I won’t tell my dad, don’t worry,” he said, stepping closer, “My name’s Taeyong. You?”_

_Johnny swallowed roughly, his mouth and throat feeling dry all of a sudden._

_“My name is Youngho.”_

_“Well, Youngho,” Taeyong giggled, coming closer to sit beside him, “I won’t tell my father if you won’t tell him I went outside.”_

_“Promise?” Johnny said, holding up his pinky finger. Taeyong smiled, sweet and soft and beautiful, as he linked his pinky with Johnny’s._

_“Promise.”_

***

Not even Mark knows about it. It’s a secret Johnny has kept with him, a moment stretched out in time that no one _here_ knows of. Johnny’s done everything to make sure that it stays secret, that his past never leaves the shadows of his mind.

He’s moved countries, changed his name, painstakingly stripped away any traces of who he was. He’s Johnny now. Johnny, a mysterious but respected hunter. Nothing more, nothing less.

The man waits for him, haloed by a hazy light behind him, looking too much like an angel, and nothing like a demon. He looks at Johnny again, tilting his head slightly, as if beckoning him closer. Johnny walks closer like a man possessed, the crowd seemingly parting for him.

The demon is much more powerful than he thought. Maybe the man he was supposed to be helping was just an innocent caught in the fray, lured by the cloying sweetness of another world.

When he comes close enough to touch, they don’t even speak. The demon simply smiles again, taking Johnny’s hand and leading him inside. Johnny doesn’t know how, but they end up in a small, nondescript room, one window letting in the lights from the neon signs as the demon steps closer and holds Johnny’s face in his hands… _it’s_ hands. It isn’t human after all.

Johnny closes his eyes. 

He should kill it. He sees right through the charade, he _knows_ the demon simply sees him as the next meal. He knows this, and yet he steps closer, like a lamb being led to slaughter.

They kiss, soft lips against his own, like nothing is wrong. The demon parts its lips with a sigh, leaning closer against Johnny’s chest.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” it says, and Johnny has to bite back a bitter laugh.

***

_They used to kiss just like this, moonlight against the planes of Taeyong’s face. They kissed in the middle of the night, in stolen moments where they didn’t have to pretend._

_Johnny– no, Youngho– was a servant. Taeyong was his liege, his master’s son. Nothing more, nothing less._

_He didn’t deserve someone like Taeyong, didn’t deserve to hold him close and have him on his bed. He knew this, so he stayed away, closed off his heart and tucked his longing away to be forgotten._

_But Taeyong saw through him. And it was Taeyong who pulled him closer, who pulled him into a small pocket of the world where they could be together._

***

The demon is a near-perfect recreation, from the scar on Taeyong’s cheekbone to the one on his stomach, Johnny runs his fingers against them and finds that they feel the exact same. It must think itself so lucky, Johnny thinks bitterly, finding a victim with their desires so fully formed and painstakingly memorized.

The demon hums, pulling away from the kiss just slightly. It looks up at Johnny through soft eyelashes, the barest hints of pout on it’s lips. It’s like an image ripped straight from Johnny’s memories.

Taeyong. Sweet, wonderful Taeyong. Taeyong. Taeyong. Taeyong… 

Johnny’s the one who leads them to the bed. Johnny’s the one who pushes the demon down onto the sheets and kisses it fervently.

Johnny’s the one who betrays Taeyong.

If Johnny closes his eyes, he can pretend it’s still Taeyong with him, under him, sighing softly as Johnny runs his hands down his body, mapping out every perfectly copied inch of skin. If Johnny just _stops thinking,_ he can honestly believe Taeyong’s really here.

But Johnny’s never been able to stop thinking ever since that day, obsessively turning over what-ifs and if-onlys in his head, chasing after a future where things didn’t end the way they did.

“Taeyong,” Johnny breathes, “Taeyong.”

The demon reaches for him, brushing a hand against his cheek. “I’m here.”

 _Liar,_ Johnny thinks. _Tell me my name,_ he wants to say, _Tell me you love me._

But he knows the demon won’t. So he huffs, and goes back to pretending, for just a moment. 

“I’m sorry I took so long,” it says with Taeyong’s voice, the gentle curves of his mouth.

Johnny buries his face into the crook of the demon’s shoulder. He can smell the magic wafting through the air, sickly sweet, and he has to hold back from laughing. The demon doesn’t need magic, not this time, because Johnny is a fool walking right into the trap.

“I missed you,” he says, muffled into the demon’s skin, because it’s true.

“I missed you too,” the demon answers.

Johnny closes his eyes, and he lets himself fall.

***

_Taeyong was warm, like the sunlight on Youngho’s face in early mornings. He thought the world was beautiful, and for a moment, Youngho believed him._

_Taeyong, who held his hand with a shy smile. Taeyong, who looked him in the eyes and told him he loved him._

_Taeyong, who…_

***

When the demon digs fingers into Johnny’s shoulder, it feels like it’s digging into a fresh scab, dragging out painful memories. Nails scrape against his skin and his mind skips, replaying those last days with his Taeyong, the _real_ Taeyong.

***

_He remembers holding Taeyong close, sobbing and begging him for forgiveness. Still, Taeyong smiled, that sweet, gentle smile, and he reached for him, fingers streaking blood on his cheek as he grew weaker._

_Youngho had failed, and he paid for it with his heart. His heart, his soul, his love, bleeding out in his arms._

_He’ll never forget the smell. Smoke and blood and a sickening scent he couldn’t name. The scent of hell itself, and it was coming from Taeyong, his Taeyong, his heart and soul._

***

The image of the _real_ Taeyong’s face jolts Johnny out of his sweet punishment, and he sits back up, gasping for air. The demon opens its eyes, confused for a moment, but the furrowed brow it wears looks out of place. It’s not the way Taeyong would do it, and Johnny feels sick.

Taeyong. His Taeyong. His Taeyong that he _betrayed._

It all happens so quickly, and it feels like Johnny’s simply watching himself as his instincts take over. He grabs his knife and stabs the demon in one swift motion, straight in the chest.

Johnny heaves, digging the knife even deeper into the demon's chest. It hurts, it fucking _hurts,_ even though it shouldn’t, even if Johnny knows he’s doing the right thing. Because the demon’s face is still _Taeyong’s,_ shock and pain written clearly on his features, emotions that Johnny knows too well.

The demon with Taeyong’s face reaches for him, bloody hand coming to rest on his cheek. But there’s no love, no longing in the action, only sheer desperation to survive. Johnny laughs. An ugly, bitter laugh that rises from his chest and forces its way out his throat.

Johnny pulls the knife out, stabbing it into the demon’s throat to finally finish it off.

“Youngho,” it gurgles, voice so achingly familiar, but Johnny only falters for a moment, before finally beheading it. That’s when the illusion fizzles out, Taeyong’s figure melting away into charred flesh and mangled limbs.

***

It isn’t until Johnny’s back home, burning the bloodied sheets in his backyard, that he realizes he never told the demon his true name.

The fire crackles, burning slowly, and the smell is so achingly familiar.

Johnny steps a little closer.

***

_End._

**Author's Note:**

> twt: [jyanyongs](https://twitter.com/jyanyongs)


End file.
